Donations will cover cost of new lights and then some
The Walbridge Fire threatened Windsor’s Christmas cheer after it was discovered that the lights used to decorate and facilitate the annual Charlie Brown Christmas Tree Grove had burned along with the barn they were being stored in. But thanks to local citizens and businesses rallying, the annual holiday event will be as glittery and festive as ever.
The Charlie Brown Christmas Tree Grove, put on by the People4Parks Foundation, fills the Town Green with lights, snow, holiday cheer and hundreds of Christmas trees decorated by local groups and businesses.
Lorene Romero, vice chair of the foundation and the Director of the Windsor Chamber of Commerce, said the foundation was notified that the lights — primarily those used to decorate the central kiosk and the parks natural trees along with “dancing” icicle lights — had been lost. The lights were valued at $12,000 to $15,000.
The lights were being stored at Renninger Ranch, as Renninger Electric has been the electrical contractor for the grove.
“Initially, we thought this could be a total game changer and could kill this event,” Romero said in an interview with the Times following the discovery that the lights had burned. “But then I connected with (Mayor Dominic Foppoli), who is very involved in the fires again and we connected about how we can turn lemons into lemonade, which is always my thing.”
Foppoli and Romero started a GoFundMe, and in addition, the People4Parks Foundation received some direct checks from local businesses and individual donors, some of whom preferred to remain anonymous, and in the end raised more money than they needed.
“We are here to celebrate some amazing good news,” said Foppoli in a taped announcement on Sept. 10.
“During the most recent Walbridge Fire we discovered the barn holding the lights was destroyed,” said Romero in the announcement. “We reached out to our mayor and reached out to the community to raise $15,000 to get replacements.”
“I’m incredibly happy to announce — and so proud of our community to announce — that we have exceeded our goal we’ll have the lights everybody loves in time for winter festivities,” said Foppoli. “I want to thank all the amazing companies, all the individuals — over 100 people donated — to bring the little bit of joy in wintertime we really need.”
The GoFundMe raised $11,660 from 152 donors, but additional donors, some of them large, donated directly to People4Parks.
“We have excess funds now that we will be donating to People4Parks and it will be going straight to making our amazing winter park season even better,” said Foppoli. “We wanted to give a collective thank you to the community and once again we are Windsor strong and Windsor together.”
“We took a lemon situation and made some awesome lemonade,” said Romero.
People4Parks will present the 12th annual Charlie Brown Christmas Tree Grove, with the initial tree lighting on Dec. 3 and continuing to Dec. 31, 2020 at the Windsor Town Green. The event features holiday music and dancing rainbow icicle lights, along with nightly snowfall every night at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.
Sponsorships for the event are open now. The deadline for contributing is Sept. 30 to be recognized in event advertising.
Details of the event and sponsorship opportunities can be found at here.
